


Time to Spare

by kentucky_fried_yoink



Category: Cars (Movies)
Genre: Cal is too pure for this world, Crying, Hurt/Comfort, Lightning is confused, Panic Attacks, Weathers family feels, humanized characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 11:45:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17642177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kentucky_fried_yoink/pseuds/kentucky_fried_yoink
Summary: Cal doesn't handle wrecks well, not that it's much of a surprise. He knows Brick is fine, but he's still panicking, and he knows he doesn't have much time to spare. Lightning tries to help but isn't sure what to do. Strip has seen this before, and knows exactly how to help.





	Time to Spare

**Author's Note:**

> I literally woke up and was suddenly inspired and wrote this in an hour and then forgot about it for over a week, so here we are. If you liked this, come check out my tumblr @kentucky-fried-yoink. Thanks for reading!

Lightning approached the Dinoco area of the pits, just two spaces in front of the Rusteze area. The race wasn’t over, far from it: but it had been halted while the wreckage of a damaged car was cleared and the driver was hurried away for emergency treatment. The medical officials had announced that Brick would be fine - probably a concussion and some bruises - and the remaining drivers had about ten minutes to prepare to continue the race.

“Hey Cal - you should probably be getting ready. You okay?”

Cal was leaning against the low wall, headphones in and his eyes squeezed closed.

“Wait - Cal, are you crying? What happened?” Lightning dropped to his knees beside the taller driver as Cal paused his music.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay, I just - ”

“Bullshit.”

Cal laughed shakily before roughly pulling out his earbuds. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s really not a big deal, though. I don’t know why, but I’ve just...never really done well with watching crashes, even if they aren’t serious. I saw my uncle’s last race live before I got started racing, and before that, my parents, I saw the car they were in... It’s stupid, but I just really hate watching any kind of wreck happen.”

Lightning nodded. “No, that’s okay, it makes sense. Your uncle’s crash messed me up for a while too - nobody expected that to happen - but I can’t imagine how it was to lose your parents when you were just a kid. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Cal nodded immediately, brushing away tears. “Yeah. Can you go get my uncle Strip?”

“Right - I’ll be back soon, okay?” Lightning wasn’t sure what to do, so he just put a hand on Cal’s shoulder for a moment as he stood up.

It didn’t take him long to find Strip - he was with the Octane Gain crew chief, returning from talking with Brick’s team.

“Where are you going in such a hurry, Lightning?” Lightning has practically run into him, of course. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to head out there?”

“Uh...Cal asked me to come find you. He, um - ”

“Yeah, I figured he wouldn’t be taking it so well. I was just heading over there now, I only just finished talking with Brick’s crew chief. How is he?” He waited until they were far enough away from the other crew chief before saying anything.

“He was crying when I talked to him. He asked me to come get you.”

“Was he listening to music?”

Confused, Lightning nodded.

“Okay, so it could be worse. He always gets thrown out of sorts when somebody wrecks, but if he’s thinking enough to actually find his phone and start listening to music, he’ll be fine. It’s not the first time this has happened.”

By now, they had reached Cal again. He was in the same position as Lightning had left him.

“Hey, kid. You alright?”

“Yeah. Sorry, uncle Strip. Gotta get back out there soon, right? There can’t be more than six minutes left.”

Lightning watched, unsure of what he should do, as Strip sat beside Cal and wrapped an arm around his nephew’s shoulders. “I know. We’ll be okay.”

The Rust-Eze racer felt like he was intruding on the moment as Cal let his head rest on his uncle’s shoulder. “I think I can do it. I just need a minute.”

“Well, we have five minutes, so it looks like you’ve got time to spare, huh?” Strip joked quietly, getting a little laugh from Cal. He ran his free hand through Cal’s hair, trying to fix where the helmet had made it more unruly than usual.

Cal closed his eyes for a little longer, then sat up hesitantly. “Okay. I think I’ve calmed down enough now. Even have four minutes to spare.”

“Let’s get you back out there, then. And, Cal,” Strip made sure his nephew looked at him as he helped the younger man to his feet. “Take it easy out there, will you? I’m already proud of you just for trying to finish the race today.”

“Thanks, uncle Strip.” Cal hugged him briefly before turning to Lightning. “And, uh, thanks for not laughing at me, Lightning. It really means a lot that you helped.”

“Sure, any time - I don’t think I did too much, though,” Lightning protested as they made their way towards their cars again, with a little under three minutes to spare.


End file.
